Brittnau
Encyclopedia
Brittnau is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Zofingen
Zofingen (district)
Zofingen District is a district in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is located in the southwest corner of the Canton. The seat is Zofingen. The largest municipality in population is Oftringen, the smallest is Wiliberg. It has a population of ....

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Geography

Brittnau has an area, , of 13.69 square kilometres (5.3 sq mi). Of this area, 7.23 km² (2.8 sq mi) or 52.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.73 km² (1.8 sq mi) or 34.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.62 km² (0.625485496919907 sq mi) or 11.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.1 km² (24.7 acre) or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 35.4% is used for growing crops and 14.5% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Zofingen district on the left side of the mid-Wigger river
Wigger (river)
The Wigger is a river in the Swiss cantons of Lucerne and Aargau. It is an important tributary of the river Aar. The Wigger is around 41 kilometers long and flows from south to north for most of its length...

 valley (Wiggertal). It comprises Brittnau itself and the following villages:
  • Bergacker
  • Bösenwil
  • Bötschishalden
  • Fennern
  • Geissbach
  • Leidenberg
  • Liebigen
  • Mättenwil
  • Schulerslehn
  • Sennhof
  • Rossweid
  • Weilern Grod
  • Wilacker


The municipality borders Wikon
Wikon
Wikon is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.-Geography:Wikon has an area, , of . Of this area, 39.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 51.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.8% is settled and the remainder is non-productive rivers. ...

, Langnau, Pfaffnau
Pfaffnau
Pfaffnau is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.-History:Pfaffnau is first mentioned in 924 as Fafanhaa/Fafana. In 1173 it was mentioned as Phafena.-Geography:...

, Murgenthal
Murgenthal
Murgenthal is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:Murgenthal is first mentioned in 1255 as Murgatun. The Herrschaft rights to the village belonged to the Counts of Frohburg until 1299, when they went to the Habsburgs. From the Bernese...

, Vordemwald
Vordemwald
Vordemwald is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Vordemwald has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 58.0% is forested...

, Strengelbach
Strengelbach
Strengelbach is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Strengelbach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 31.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 44.6% is forested...

 and Zofingen
Zofingen
Zofingen is a city in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is the capital of the district of Zofingen. Zofingen is a walled city and home of an ancient monastic settlement.-Geography:...

.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Gules a Bend wavy sinister Argent and Coupeaux Vert.

Demographics

Brittnau has a population of , 7.5% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 4.5%. Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

(96.1%), with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 being second most common ( 1.2%) and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 being third ( 0.6%).

The age distribution, , in Brittnau is; 384 children or 10.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 449 teenagers or 12.3% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 407 people or 11.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 471 people or 12.9% are between 30 and 39, 675 people or 18.5% are between 40 and 49, and 508 people or 14.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 344 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 248 people or 6.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 138 people or 3.8% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 16 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.56 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 60.8% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 83 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 670 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 564 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 1,354 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. there were 704 single family homes (or 46.0% of the total) out of a total of 1,529 homes and apartments. There were a total of 0 empty apartments for a 0.0% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents.

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 39.26% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (19.43%), the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (11.71%) and the EVP Party
Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland
The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland.In questions of redistribution, education, environmentalism, immigration policy, the EVP stands rather center-left. In questions of euthanasia, abortion, and registered partnership and other typically Christian...

 (8.83%). In the federal election, a total of 1,202 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 44.3%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 2,249
1888 2,069
1900 2,229
1950 2,972
1990 3,158
2000 3,400

Economy

, Brittnau had an unemployment rate of 2%. , there were 152 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 61 businesses involved in this sector. 93 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 22 businesses in this sector. 390 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 81 businesses in this sector.

there were 1,785 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,435 or about 80.4% of the residents worked outside Brittnau while 263 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 613 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 8.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 723 or 21.3% were Roman Catholic, while 2,240 or 65.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 7 individuals (or about 0.21% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

 faith.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Brittnau about 75.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the school age population , there are 288 students attending primary school, there are 68 students attending secondary school, there are 102 students attending tertiary or university level schooling in the municipality.

Brittnau is home to the Schul-u.Gde.Bibliothek Brittnau (school and municipal library of Brittnau). The library has 9,438 books or other media, and loaned out 19,036 items in the same year. It was open a total of 130 days with average of 6 hours per week during that year.
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